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Description
RIMBAUD (Arthur).
Complete Poems with a preface by Paul Verlaine and the publisher’s notes.
Paris: Léon Vanier, 1895. — In-12, 182 x 117: XXIV, 135 pp., printed cover. Black morocco, covers lined with black, white and red marbled paper, plain spine, gilt head, untrimmed, cover and spine preserved (Alix).
Galantaris, no. 230.
Second collective edition, partly original, illustrated with two portraits of the author drawn by Paul Verlaine and reproduced as a frontispiece.
Paul Verlaine had announced in 1884, in his *Poètes maudits*, that a complete collection of Rimbaud’s works ‘could only appear at a later date’. It was this work that Léon Vanier completed in 1895, bringing together, following the 1892 edition comprising *Les Illuminations* and *Une Saison en enfer*, the poet’s *Poésies complètes*. He excluded the apocryphal or falsely attributed pieces from the pirated edition of *Le Reliquaire* (1891), as well as the sonnets by Tailhade and Maurice du Plessys; he arranged the poems composed between 1870 and 1872 in chronological order; and he included authenticated unpublished works as well as prose poems related to *Les Illuminations*. He did, however, retain, for documentary purposes, a few early pieces expressing ideas that Rimbaud, having returned to the faith, would have ‘deleted without regret’: the rebellious poet had become a merchant in Harar, in East Africa, where he had befriended the explorer Paul Soleillet. Nicknamed ‘La Juste Balance’ by the locals for his wisdom and integrity, he died ‘like a saint’ in Marseille from an arthritic tumour.
Paul Verlaine’s preface appears here for the first time.
A fine copy bound by Alix, complete with front and back covers.
A few scattered foxing spots.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
About the sale
Claude Mozis Library – Black Africa and the African diaspora
Auction location
Auction time
10/21/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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